B. Any other statutory requirements for closed or open meetings.

Various statutory provisions require closed proceedings in certain contexts. For example, multidisciplinary child protection teams are created by the Department of Health and Social Services to assist in the evaluation and investigation of reports of harm to children made under AS 47.17 and to provide consultation and coordination for agencies involved in child protection cases under AS 47.10, the child-in-need-of-aid statute. AS 47.14.300. Meetings of a team are closed to the public and are not subject to the provisions of AS 44.62.310 and 44.62.312, the OMA. AS 47.14.300(e). Similarly, meetings of the state child fatality review team are closed to the public and are not subject to the provisions of AS 44.62.310 and 44.62.312. AS 12.65.140(c), as are meetings of domestic violence fatality review teams. AS 18.66.400(d).

Whenever circumstances subject a child to the jurisdiction of the court under the child-in-need-of-aid (CINA) statute, AS 47.10.005 - 47.10.142, a preliminary inquiry and report may result in informal or formal hearings and proceedings. CINA hearings are now presumptively open to the public, except as provided in the CINA statute and unless prohibited by federal or state law, court order or court rule. AS 47.10.070(a). The CINA statute provides that child-in-need-of-aid cases are closed to the public during (1) the initial court hearing after the filing of a petition to commence the child-in-need-of-aid case; (2) a hearing following the initial hearing in which a parent, child or other party to the case is present but has not had an opportunity to obtain legal representation; or (3) a hearing, or a part of a hearing, for which the court issues a written order finding that allowing the hearing, or part of the hearing, to be open to the public would reasonably be expected to (A) stigmatize or be emotionally damaging to a child; (B) inhibit a child's testimony in that hearing; (C) disclose matters otherwise required to be kept confidential by state or federal statute or regulation, court order, or court rule; or (D) interfere with a criminal investigation or proceeding or a criminal defendant's right to a fair trial in a criminal proceeding. AS 47.10.070(c). If a hearing, or part of a hearing, in a child-in-need-of-aid case is not closed under this subsection .070(c), the court shall hear in camera any information offered regarding the location, or readily leading to the location, of a parent, child or other party to the case who is a victim of domestic violence or whose safety or welfare may be endangered by public release of the information. Access to testimony heard in camera under this subsection is limited to the court and authorized court personnel. AS 47.10.070(d). Notwithstanding any other provision of the CINA statute, a person attending a hearing open to the public may not disclose a name, picture or other information that would readily lead to the identification of a child who is the subject of the child-in-need-of-aid case. At the beginning of the hearing, the court must issue an order specifying the restrictions necessary to comply with this subsection. If a person violates the order, the court may impose any appropriate sanction, including contempt and closure of any further hearings to the person. AS 47.10.070(f). Also, the CINA statute provides for adjudication hearings to determine whether the child is or is not a child in need of aid, and, if so, to determine an appropriate disposition for the matter, which might include releasing the child to parents or others, making the child a ward of the state, committing the child to the custody of the Department of Health and Social Services, to a foster home, and hearings concerning a "permanency plan" for the child or termination of parental rights. A hearing conducted under this section is open to the public unless an exception provided in AS 47.10.070 (c) applies to make the hearing closed to the public or unless prohibited by federal or state statute or regulation. AS 47.10.080(u).

Notwithstanding section .110(a), a court hearing on a petition seeking the adjudication of a minor as a delinquent shall be open to the public, except as prohibited or limited by order of the court, if (1) the department files with the court a motion asking the court to open the hearing to the public, and the petition seeking adjudication of the minor as a delinquent is based on (A) the minor's alleged commission of an offense, and the minor has knowingly failed to comply with all the terms and conditions required of the minor by the department or imposed on the minor in a court order; (B) the minor's alleged commission of (i) a crime against a person that is punishable as a felony; (ii) a crime in which the minor employed a deadly weapon (b), in committing the crime; (iii) arson; (iv) burglary; (v) distribution of child pornography; (vi) promoting prostitution in the first degree; or (vii) misconduct involving a controlled substance under AS 11.71 involving the delivery of a controlled substance or the possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver; or (C) the minor's alleged commission of a felony and the minor was 16 years of age or older at the time of commission of the offense when the minor has previously been convicted or adjudicated a delinquent minor based on the minor's commission of an offense that is a felony; or (2) the minor agrees to a public hearing on the petition seeking adjudication of the minor as a delinquent, AS 47.12.110(d), or when the district attorney has elected to seek imposition of a dual sentence and a petition has been filed under AS 47.12.065, or when a minor agrees as part of a plea agreement to be subject to dual sentencing. AS 47.12.110(e).

There are isolated other statutory provisions in laws governing various agencies that allow for closed proceedings. See, e.g., AS 14.20.180(b) (a tenured teacher notified of dismissal or nonretention can demand a hearing and require that the hearing be either public or private). Also, a number of statutes give the person or entity whose rights are the subject of or affected by the proceedings to choose to have the proceedings open. For example, upon receipt of a proper petition for a civil commitment for mental health reasons, the court holds a hearing, at which the respondent, the person to be committed, has certain rights, including the right to have the hearing open or closed to the public as the respondent elects. AS 47.30.735(b)(3).

A meeting of the board to act on applications for loans is exempt from the public meeting requirements of the Open Meetings Act. AS 03.10.050(c).

Meetings of public electric and telephone cooperatives are required to be open, but under the provisions of the corporate code governing utility cooperatives, not the OMA. See AS 10.25.175. The most significant effect of this distinction is that only "members" of the cooperative are entitled to attend board meetings. Zoerb v. Chugach Electric Ass'n Inc., 798 P. 2d 1258 (Alaska 1990) (employee of electric cooperative properly excluded from meeting because he was not a member). Other differences between the open meetings provisions of Title 10 and Title 44 (OMA) are that the section governing utility cooperatives applies only to meetings at which a quorum of the board is present, discussions between the Board and its attorney can be closed if disclosure would have an immediate adverse effect, only "formal action" is prohibited in executive sessions, and action taken contrary to the statute is not void if other equitable relief is available. Co-op board members may be subject to recall for violations of open meetings rules governing utility cooperatives found in Title 10 or in utility by-laws, as public officials may be for alleged violations of the OMA. Cf., section IV.C.11, infra.